Detroit News Columnist Daniel Howes and Michigan Radio are partners in weekly essays examining what's hot in Michigan business and politics – and what it all means. This week, Howes says Michigan’s accelerating slide in educational achievement is becoming a crisis every bit as dire as the bankruptcies of the Detroit auto industry – only worse. The inability of political, educational and business leaders to reverse the decline is a stain that will endure long after they’re gone, afflicting yet another generation of young people struggling to compete in a global economy.